AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-079
ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT
North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS
reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur
Radio operators who share an active interest in designing,
building, launching and communicating through analog and
digital Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor at amsat.org
In this edition:
* ARISS Contact-Fair Lawn, NJ
* China EME and Satellite Expedition
* 2M1EUB/P Satellite Operation Begins from Scotland
* AMSAT India March Newsletter Available for Download
* ARISS Status - 14 March 2011
* Fastrack Satellites Separated
* AO-51 in eclipse
* UK Space Agency UKube-1 Cubesat Takes Shape
* ISS Reboost March 18th
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.01
ARISS Contact-Fair Lawn, NJ
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.01
This past Monday, March 14, 2011, The Fair Lawn ARC conducted a successful
ARISS
Contact. It was the fruition of a few years of applications, paperwork and
sweat
Equity. After initial instructions giving specific details, the last
weekend a
Complete change of Astronaut and frequency of OPS was dictated. The
operating
Group quickly made necessary changes.
The School system involved was thrilled after hearing Paulo Nespoli, IZ0JPA,
calling
back from NA1SS after our student Zack, KC2RSS, gave the initial calls.
Everyone
Breathed a sigh of relief after that. All questions were answered by a
gracious Paulo
On the ISS and applause was given after the contact by the 200 plus people
that attended
The contact.
Everyone involved felt a great deal of pride and accomplishment. ARISS has
made it a
Smooth ride for all that decides to get involved and show local school
officials
What is involved and the scientific aspects of making such a contact.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/031411_Fair_Lawn_students_talk_to_orbiting_a
stronaut.html
[ANS thanks Dee, NB2F, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.02
China EME and Satellite Expedition
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.02
BJ8TA Amateur Radio EME & Satellites Expedition
AMSAT-China Chief Executive Officer Alan Kung, BA1DU reports that
AMSAT-China is organizing an expedition to southwest China for EME
experiments and amateur satellite communications. The expedition
team will use special technology experiments amateur radio call sign
BJ8TA.
BJ8TA team will be active on the available satellites, including AO-51,
VO-52, AO-7, AO-27, FO-29, SO-50, SO-67 etc, during the expedition
period.
Initially the team will operate from Shangri-La County(NL97ut), Yunnan
Province of China during March 20-23. This will mark the first time
amateur radio EME communications in grid NL, the communications scheme
on the 6m, 2m and 70cm bands, using Yagi antennas with PA of one
kilowatt.
And then, the team will move to Yunnan Astronomical Observatory of
the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chengjiang county, it is located
in grid OL14kq. The EME communications will use the 11 meter diameter
radio telescope antenna with gain of 29dbi on the 70cm band. These
operations will be from March 28 to April 1.
BJ8TA Amateur Radio EME & Satellites Expedition is supported by the
Bureau of Radio Regulation of China and Yunnan Astronomical Observa-
tory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
BJ8TA team members:
VIP operators:
Xie Feibo, BA1XIE, Director General of the Bureau of Radio Regulation
of China.
Yin Hu, BD1AZ, Land Service Department of the Bureau of Radio
Regulation of China.
Chen Ping, BA1HAM, Deputy Secretary General of the Amateur Radio
Committee of Chinese Radio Association.
Li Jian, Land Service Department of the Bureau of Radio Regulation
of China.
Team leader: Fan, BA1EO
Operators: Alan, BA1DU; Wang, BA4RN; Wang, BH4REQ; Zhao, BH4RLO; Jin,
BA4TA; Michael, BD5RV;and Chen, BA7CK
Logistics: Zhu, BG5FCB; Zhang; BG8SF
QSL manager: Alan, BA1DU (P.O.Box 8091, Beijing 100088, CHINA).
[ANS thanks Alan Kung, BA1DU for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.03
2M1EUB/P Satellite Operation Begins from Scotland
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.03
2M1EUB/P Satellite Operation Begins from Scotland
Paul, 2E1EUB says he will begin portable satellite operation from
Scotland as 2M1EUB/P beginning on March 20 and continuing for one
week.
Paul has spent the winter preparing his van for operating which he
plans to drive up into the mountains weather permitting.
Paul's information for both callsigns can be found at
http://www.qrz.com.
[ANS thanks Paul, 2E1EUB for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.04
AMSAT India March Newsletter Available for Download
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.04
AMSAT India March Newsletter Available for Download
AMSAT INDIA Secretary Nitin, VU3TYG announced this week that AMSAT
INDIA's March 2011 Newsletter is available for download at:
http://amsatindia.org/Newsletter/AMSATINDIA-News-March_2011.pdf
Content of the March Newsletter include:
1. Update on the Technical talk held on February 20th 2011
2. Update on the Cubesat Transponder project by AMSAT INDIA.
3. Report by Anantha - VU3GPF on the scheduled contact with ISS
with his school in India.
4. VU4PB - DXpedition by Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI)
to Andaman and Nicobar.
5. News from AMSAT Organizations worldwide.
Archives of previous newsletters are also available on-line at:
http://www.amsatindia.org/Newsletter.
[ANS thanks Nitin, VU3TYG for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.05
ARISS Status - 14 March 2011
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.05
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report
March 14, 2011
1. School Contacts
The Fair Lawn High School, Fair Lawn, New Jersey contact was a great success
And the contact on Monday was rebroadcast on Echo Link.
March 14 at 15:48 UTC. The contact was integrated into the curriculum
covering space and earth science as well as human anatomy and physiology.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/031411_Fair_Lawn_students_talk_to_orbiting_a
stronaut.html
Is the link to local newspaper coverage.
There were over 200 people in attendance to hear Paulo Nespoli graciously
Answered the questions of the various age students from 2nd, 5th & High
School levels. The Fair Lawn ARC was involved along with local AMSAT
Volunteers to assure the contact went smoothly and without any last minute
Murphy adventures.
Students from five schools in Plock and Liszyno, Poland jointly
participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
contact on Thursday, March 17 at 09:21 UTC. Through this activity and
related studies, students will learn about space and space exploration,
communication and technology. The Scout Amateur Radio Club SP5ZBA will
handle the radio connection for the contact.
An ARISS contact has been accomplished for Luitpold-Gymnasium Muenchen,
Munich,
Bavaria, Germany on Thursday, March 17 at 14:05 UTC. Preperations for their
contact, seventeen year olds took the course Spaceflight were joined by
children from lower grades to learn about aeronautics and scientific work.
The ESA ISS Education Kit was used in their studies and the German amateur
radio organization (DARC) gave the youth a comprehensive introduction to
amateur radio on the ISS.
ISIP Cossar / Da Vinci, Gorizia, Italy was realized for an Amateur
Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday,
March 19 at 08:38 UTC. The radio contact, the telecommunication equipment
Installed and used in the school as well as the collaboration with a local
group of amateur radio operators will offer telecommunications students the
chance to test instruments able to connect to listening posts 300 km away.
2. Recent ARISS Contacts
On Tuesday, March 8, youth from ICS Marco Doggiono, Oggiono, Italy spoke
with Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA via an Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station (ARISS) contact. The astronaut fielded 13 questions before the ISS
went over the horizon. Students wanted to know for example, what one needs
to do to become an astronaut and what type of research is performed on the
ISS.
The contact was the featured event of lessons emphasizing astronautics,
astronomy,
radio techniques and English. Nearly 400 students and teachers and about
100 visitors were present for the contact. Regional television, local
media and newspapers covered the event.
An ARISS contact took place between youth attending Schulhaus Dorf in
Richterswil, Switzerland and on-orbit astronaut Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH on
Tuesday, March 8. Coleman answered the 22 questions prepared for her with
time left to exchange greetings. The contact was the culmination of science
lessons on space and gave the students the opportunity to practice their
English.
Students from Francesco dAssisi Middle School and Don Lorenzo Milani
Primary School in Modugno, Bari, Italy, experienced an Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, March 12. The event
was held at Cittadella Mediterranea della Scienza in Bari where an
audience
of approximately 150 students, teachers, visitors and media were assembled.
Astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA on the ISS spoke with the youth over 2
consecutive
passes, answering 30 questions about what it is like to live in space. He
answered
a final question concerning the earthquake in Japan and expressed his
concern
for the Japanese. Regional television, local media and newspapers covered
the event.
On Saturday, March 12, Shri Krishna Vithyaalayam Matric School in Pollachi,
India participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) contact with ISS astronaut Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH via telebridge
station I
K1SLD in Italy. Twelve questions were asked and answered. The contact was
integrated into science lessons about astronomy, satellites and the ISS and
included radio classes taught by the Anamalai Amateur Radio Club located at
the school.
3. Astronaut Training Status
Astronauts Luca Parmitano (Expedition 36) and Chris Cassidy (Expedition 35)
both passed their amateur radio license exams on March 8. Their call signs
should be issued within a week.
On March 9, Michael Hopkins completed his ARISS introductory course and is
currently preparing for his amateur radio license exam. Hopkins is slated to
fly with Expedition 37 in September 2013.
An ARISS refresher course was provided to Chris Hadfield, KC5RNJ/VA3OOG on
March 11. Hadfield is currently scheduled for Expedition 34, November 2012.
4. ARRL QST Covers ARISS Activities
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) printed a few ARISS items in its
April
issue of QST, which has a circulation of 156,000. Under its "Media Hits"
column
was a piece about ARISS and the newspaper articles and TV news stories about
Adobe
Bluffs Elementary School's ARISS contact and about Foster Heights
Elementary/Nelson
County Area Technical Center in Kentucky. The "Inside HQ" column, a column
giving
ARRL 2010 highlights, had a paragraph on education programs including the 48
ARISS QSOs of 2010 (not NASA's fiscal year 2010), and ARISS's 10th
anniversary.
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.06
FASTRAC Satellites Separated
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.06
FASTRAC Satellites Separated
FASTRAC Student Program Manager Sebastian Munoz, KE5FKV, wrote,
"First of all I wanted to thank the HAM community all over the
world for supporting our project, your support has been incredible
that we really value."
On March 15, after a few months of initial operations, FASTRAC
started one of the most exciting phases of the project by separating
both satellites so they can compute on-orbit real-time relative navi-
gation solutions while both of them are freely drifting from one
another.
The two Amateur Radio FASTRAC AX.25 satellites are:
FASTRAC-1 Sara Lily 437.345 MHz FM
FASTRAC-2 Emma 145.825 MHz FM
A FASTRAC Beacon decoder program is available on-line at:
http://www.dk3wn.info/software.shtml
[ANS thanks FASTRAC Student Program Manager Sebastian Munoz, KE5FKV
for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.07
AO-51 in Eclipse
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.07
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.07
AO-51 Enters Eclipse Periods Again
AO-51 Command Station, Mark Hammond, N8MH said this week, "Eclipses
are back for AO-51, and the length is increasing every day. Eclipses
are now lasting about 1-2 mins per pass, and it goes up pretty fast,
gaining a minute every day or two. They will become rather long in
the coming weeks/months (as long as 20 mins or more as I recall)."
DK3WN's Illum program illustrates what is ahead for AO-51 operations.
This free download is available at:
http://www.dk3wn.info/software.shtml
AO-51 is still running under power management in single transmitter
Mode on the 435.300 MHz downlink running approximately 1.3 watts.
The satellite will be OFF during eclipses (and probably right before,
and soon after). You'll probably still hear the transmitter cycling
OFF and ON around eclipse times. But most voice users will appreciate
the stronger signals.
AO-51 be in this mode until further notice.
Keep up with the latest AO-51 Control Team News on-line at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews.php
[ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.08
UK Space Agency UKube-1 Cubesat Takes Shape
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.08
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.08
UK Space Agency UKube-1 Cubesat Takes Shape
This week the UK Space Agency revealed the instruments and experi- ments
that will be launched into orbit onboard the UKube-1 CubeSat in early 2012.
UKube-1 - a nanosatellite that will allow the UK to test new tech-
nologies and carry out new space research quickly and efficiently is
an exciting and novel collaboration between the UK Space Agency,
industry and academia, and is envisaged as the pilot for a full
national CubeSat programme.
As well as providing a fantastic opportunity for innovative UK com-
panies and UK academics to collaborate on a national space project,
UKube-1 is also useful for training the next generation of space
engineers.
A radio subsystem provided by AMSAT-UK, derived from the FUNcube
program will provide a downlink for science education, and a
mater- ials science experiment from which school students can
receive data.
The system, funded by volunteer members and friends of AMSAT-UK,
will be integrated with UKube-1 as part of the program.
The winning payloads from the UK Space Agency's payload competition
include:
+ The first GPS device aimed at measuring plasmaspheric space weather.
+ A camera that will take images of the Earth and test the effect of
radiation on space hardware, using a new generation of imaging sensor.
+ An experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of using cosmic radia-
tion to improve the security of communications satellites and to
flight test lower cost electronic systems.
+ A payload made up of 5 experiments that UK students and the public
can interact with.
A complete list of the experiments is listed on the UKube-1 web page
at: http://tinyurl.com/5v8g2a4 (bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency)
The FUNcube sub-system which will be included on UKube-1, will have exactly
the same functionality as the "original" FUNcube cubesat - including a U/V
linear transponder. Full details of the whole FUNcube project can be found
here http://funcube.org.uk/
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the UK Space Agency for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-079.09
ISS Reboost on March 18 Changes AOS at Your QTH
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 079.09
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 20, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-079.09
ISS Reboost on March 18 Changes AOS at Your QTH
Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency has announced the ISS was
reboosted 3.7 km on Friday, March 18. The readjustment is necessary
to ensure the best conditions to dock Russia's Soyuz TMA-21 piloted
spacecraft and the U.S. Endeavor space shuttle. Russia's Soyuz TMA-21
is expected to travel to the ISS sometime in early April, while the
U.S. Endeavor will blast off from Cape Canaveral on April 19.
According to the Roscosmos press release the maneuver was conducted
using the two main engines on board the European Space Agency's Auto-
mated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-2), named after Johannes Kepler.
Since the orbital period changes _roughly_ 1.2 seconds for each 1 km
of altitude, observers on the ground should see almost 5 seconds of
change. The usual caveats about tracking program ISS discrepancies
should be kept in mind until the Keplerian Elements catch up.
The Roscosmos press release can be found on-line at:
http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=11541&lang=en
[ANS thanks Roscosmos and information provided by Alan, WA4SCA via
the sarex at amsat.org list for the above information]
/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining
donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive
additional benefits. Application forms are available from
the AMSAT Office.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
nb2f at amsat dot org